


Answers For The Past

by Maebe



Series: Before They Were Them [2]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Cannon Divergent, F/M, Fights, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 12:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4787210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maebe/pseuds/Maebe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion piece to Wet Wool and Violent Shakes. Daryl has questioned why Beth had been left alone that night but never found the time to ask. On a sticky hot summer evening, Beth joins him for a walk around the fences and Daryl finally asks what's on his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Answers For The Past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Abelina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abelina/gifts).



> I wrote this because Abelina prompted me to and it somehow all came out in a big writing blob. I've messed with it and moved stuff around but I'm still not sure exactly how I feel about it? Oh well, it's posted now. Please forgive me for any spelling/grammar errors. I self edited and I always miss things when I do that. (Man I need to get someone to edit stuff for me.)

They didn't talk much about that night. A whispered "thank you" again the next morning as everyone tried to shake the cold and damp from their bones but nothing more. That didn't mean he didn't think about it. Mulling it over in the fractions of dark or daylight hours when he'd allow his mind to stray. Why had she been alone like that? Up to that point, Hershel and Maggie seemed to border on over the top when it came to looking after Beth. What changed that night, when she needed them most? Tiny girl like that, no extra fat on her to keep the cold out. How could anyone leave her like that? The knowledge sat heavily in his gut, squeezing and seeping darkness. If she were his (which she ain't and never would be) she'd never be left in the cold. 

Or the heat come to think of it. The Georgia summer still had its claws deep into the prison, wet and burning at the same time. Daryl walked the perimeter, stabbing almost aimlessly at the walkers weakly straining against the fences. Even the dead seemed to feel the heat, flesh melting away from bone, exposing rank and rotting sinew like a macabre Popsicle. Sweat slid into his eyes, smarting something awful. Heat like this could kill just as easily as cold, especially now that water was so hard to come by. The prison had a working irrigation system now but the Georgia heat had baked more than one well dry. They were rationing water almost as heavily as food. Even Daryl himself-who avoided a regular bathing-longed for the cool clean water of a shower or bath. The stink of overheated, sweat drenched bodies may never fully leave the mattresses and sheets of their cell block now. 

One more lap, he thought to himself. One more and he could go into the prison. The heat was only marginally less oppressive in the stone walls but marginal was something. As he passed the main entrance to their cell block the heavy door squealed open. The slight gust created by the heavy door scattered the rippling heat waves emulating from the cracked pavement. He didn't pay much mind on who was leaving, more focused on getting that last lap done before heat exhaustion took him down. He started a bit when Beth fell into step beside him. 

"Mind if I join you?" She asked quietly. "Carol took Judith off my hands for a little bit." 

He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, taking in the thin tank top and short cotton shorts. He wanted to tell her no. To go back inside and change into something more covered up, pale as she was. All that open skin seemed to be begging for a fence to fall and a walker to sink their teeth into that smooth expanse of softness. If not walkers then heatstroke and sunburns from overexposure. Unfortunately in these soaring temperatures, less clothing always seemed the better option. In the end he shrugged half-heartedly and kept walking forward, more alert, more aware of each bend and break in the fence chain than any round previous. 

They made it nearly half way around the prison before the constant knot in his gut bubbled up and sat on his tongue. The question he'd gone over and over again like a river over a stone proved too tempting to keep buried. 

"What happened that night?" 

Beth stopped face him, brow furrowed, the corners of her lips pulled down in a confused frown. 

Context. She needed context. 

"The night in the woods. The rain? You were alone. Why." His words were clipped and gruff, but at least she understood the question. 

She took her time answering, seeming to roll her response around in her head a few times before replying. 

"There was no room for me." 

He nearly dropped his crossbow.

Absolute disbelief rushed down his spine, nearly making him light headed. Surely he’d misheard her. ”’Scuse me?" 

"That night,” she replied slowly, staring up at him. “There was no room for me under the tree with Daddy and Maggie." 

Now Daryl knew he wasn't one of the world's greatest thinkers but he thought himself to be, at the very least, a good detector of bullshit. And that? Yeah that was bullshit. 

"The hell you mean ‘ya didn't fit?’” 

She shrugged and started on her way again, seemingly unable to look at him now. No way in hell was she leaving him with that though. More questions than answers and a flame of indignant anger he told himself he was not going examine closely. 

He stalked after her, asking again.

"Beth. What'd'ya mean 'ya didn't fit.'" 

"The tree was too small. Maggie and Daddy tried to fit me at first but...I dunno. There was too much rain coming down and we were still getting so wet. So I said I'd find someone else in the group with space. Except everyone was so cold and we had so few blankets and jackets that there was nowhere else. So I just…settled down where I was." 

She said it all so matter of fact, like the whole experience hadn't nearly killed her. And didn't that just piss him off. 

"Coulda asked me." 

She snorted. "Yeah. Right. Daryl, up until that night I wasn't sure you knew my name. And you hate close contact."

He opened his mouth to respond but she quickly talked over him. 

"Don't deny it! You would've been so uncomfortable if I had asked. At least you asking me meant it was your choice." 

He chose a different tactic.

"Why didn't you go back to Hershel and Maggie then? Or, better yet, how come they didn't realize you were on your own? The way they hover over you sometimes makes it seem like you can't take a piss without help." 

Gravel crunched under her boots as she swung to face him properly, eyes blazing, lips pursed angrily. 

"I'm sorry you’re so put out by that night Daryl, I hadn't realized I’d been such a burden. Little Beth Greene, always needing a babysitter, always needing someone to look after her. That's what you see when you look at me. Right? You're wrong though. I'd've been fine without you Daryl. I'd've made it. I'd've-"

But she didn't seem to have words to finish that statement. With an angry growl she turned on her heel and stalked off quickly toward the prison doors. He wanted to yell after her, tell her he wasn't mad at her for what happened. He was just angry at the situation. Someone venerable had been left exposed by the people that were supposed to care for them. It wasn't right. But he kept silent, watching her walk angrily away from him. 

He'd apologize tomorrow, in his own way. Maybe get her a nice bar of soap on the run, or (since they couldn't bathe properly right now) some new clothing that wasn't stained with sweat. 

Tomorrow. He'd apologize tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for the read guys! Drop me a review, let me know what you think.


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